Page:Joseph Shine vs Union of India (Adultery Judgement).pdf/19

 16.In V. Revathi v. Union of India and others, the Court analysed the design of the provision and ruled:―

It placed heavy reliance on the three-Judge Bench in Sowmithri Vishnu (supra) and proceeded to state that the community punishes the ‘outsider’ who breaks into the matrimonial home and occasions the violation of sanctity of the matrimonial tie by developing an illicit relationship with one of the spouses subject to the rider that the erring ‘man’ alone can be punished and not the erring woman. It further went on to say that it does not arm the two spouses to hit each other with the weapon of criminal law. That is why, neither the husband can prosecute the wife and send her to jail nor can the wife prosecute the husband and send him to jail. There is no discrimination